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For those of you who read The Grief 365 Badge, this is the unexpected 4am follow up. For those of you just tuning in, go and do your homework. Just kidding! My family will not be together this Thanksgiving Day. My father had to work, my brother will go to his in laws house, my family has flown south with my in laws, to Florida to escape, and my mother will be having the time of her life spending Thanksgiving in heaven. ...more

Well dear readers, I apologize for not having written lately. I have been a bit tongue tied. With the impending first anniversary of my mother's death, I have been purposefully been avoiding digging too deep. I have had a couple of crying fits, and have been trying not to remember the details of the days leading up to the day of her death. Those memories find a way of creeping in anyway.Well, today is the day I am ripping the band aid off. No more avoiding writing about the first anniversary..... ...more

Since my mother died last November, I have been trying to locate my Aunt Cathy. She is my biological father's sister. She is the one who kept in touch with me over the years. The only one. She would come and visit for Christmas, and bring my little brother and I presents, even though he wasn't her blood relation. She treated him just like her own. She was that special lady who loved children, but could not have any of her own. She worked tirelessly with the Special Olympics, before she got sick....more